Side view mirrors customarily provide the driver of a vehicle with vision of traffic and other objects to the rear and side of the vehicle. Vehicle and component manufacturers use certain criteria, such as the level of mirror vibration, to evaluate the performance of the side view mirror assembly. Excessive vibration of the side view mirrors, which is an indicator of poor performance, may not provide a clear image to the driver causing both an annoyance and safety hazard. Side view mirror vibration can be induced by multiple sources such as road surface discontinuities over which the vehicle is driven, airflow around the side view mirror assembly, as well as other components in the vehicle like the engine, powertrain, etc.
Vibration measurement methods presently available, for example, employ subjective ratings to evaluate the performance of the side view mirror assembly. These ratings may be based on, for example, a 5 point scale, where ratings are given in increments of half points. A rating of 1 may indicate that the images are completed blurred, and a rating of 5 may indicated that the images are not blurred at all. A rating of 3 and higher may be the acceptable on the subjective scale. Although this subjective rating system is suitable when one person is evaluating the performance of the side view mirror, ratings are often made by more than one person. Due to, for example, individual biases, sometimes multiple people may not agree on the same ratings.